1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to methods and apparatuses for power generation, and, in particular, to methods and apparatuses utilizing a power generation device configured to operate in the environmental conditions of an enclosure.
2. Related Art
Sanitation and waste water systems are becoming increasingly expensive to operate and face daunting environmental, community and regulatory pressures. Agencies and organizations that manage sanitation systems face complex and costly problems. Three of the main problems facing sanitation system operators are sewage spills, treatment failure, and illegal dumping. The first two of these problems often result in uncontrolled spills of septic materials into the environment, causing environmental damage, health risks, and high cleanup and mitigation costs, while the third problem respectively generates a potential danger to treatment systems, the environment and uncontrolled liability for the sanitation operators.
Some methods have been proposed for monitoring of environmental parameters in manholes, to provide an early warning system to avoid many of the problems and costs that sanitation system operators face. Three such systems are disclosed in a prior patent and two prior patent applications filed by the applicants, including U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/641,110, filed Dec. 19, 2006 and presently pending; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/134,691, filed May 20, 2005 and presently pending; and, U.S. Pat. No. 7,292,143, issued Nov. 6, 2007. The contents of these patent applications and this patent are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These systems can include a platform for a variety of sensors, for a variety of applications, including intrusion alarms, closed space monitoring for example for gases, water quality monitoring, traffic monitoring, and environmental or pollution monitoring, and by virtue of distribution in a wide coverage urban area, such a system can have multiple uses in addition to manhole monitoring, and can monitor many other enclosures.
Nearly all of the sensors, controllers, and communication devices of such systems require power for operation. Many power systems have been proposed for powering such equipment, but each such power system has its disadvantages. The use of standard 120V or 240V power requires trenching around and into a manhole, and poses a risk of electrocution. Alternatively, primary non-rechargeable batteries, or even rechargeable batteries unless recharged by some mechanism at or in the enclosure, have the unfortunate characteristic that they require periodic servicing for replacement/recharging. In many applications, such as environmental monitoring at a manhole, periodic servicing may be difficult, time consuming, or expensive.
What is desired is a power generation apparatus configured to operate in the environmental conditions of an enclosure such as a manhole, and to utilize these conditions in the generation of power for environmental monitoring devices.